Mirror for Improved Visibility of Danger Zone Area on Right Side of School Buses

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a mirror and mirror system which can be used in connection with large vehicles, such as school buses, to provide the driver of such vehicles with the ability to view the entire side of the vehicle. While such vehicles currently include side view mirrors attached to the front of the vehicle, these mirrors contain blind spots, such as the area immediately in front of the rear wheel of the vehicle. The current invention overcomes such blind spots by attaching a second mirror to the rear portion of the vehicle that provides a forward view from the rear of the vehicle, including a view of such blind spots. Such front and rear mirrors may be aligned so that the view of the rear mirror is portrayed within the view of the front mirror. As such, the present invention provides the driver with a complete view of the passenger side of the vehicle.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in part of application Ser. No.12/169,416 filed on Jul. 8, 2008, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 11/690,620 filed Mar. 23, 2007 and issued as U.S. Pat. No.7,407,300, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/702,347filed Nov. 6, 2003 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,802. Each of theabove-identified applications are incorporated by reference herein intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to school buses and other large vehicles and isdirected to reducing fatalities among school age children and reducingthe incidence of accidents involving children, adults, cars and thelike. It is more particularly directed to mirror systems for buses andother vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the last 11 years, school buses have been involved in an average of26,000 accidents each year, according to the NASS-GES (NationalAutomotive Sampling System-General Estimates System) and the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration. During this same period, anaverage of 19 school-age children have been killed in accidents labeled“By Own Bus.” Over the last 30 years, the record is even worse: Duringthat period, an average of one child in the U.S. has been killed by hisor her own bus each school week (National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration, 2000).

Children are at the greatest risk in what is known as the “Danger Zone,”a ten foot area on each side of the bus. A child who has fallen undertheir bus, has unthinkingly crawled under the bus to retrieve a droppeditem, or has been caught by an article of clothing under the right sideof the bus cannot be seen by the driver of the bus.

One child was caught by the handrail of a bus on the drawstring of hercoat, dragged 50 feet and then run over and killed. Another child wasdragged 3-4 feet and lived, suffering a broken leg. Another child wascaught by his mitten string, dragged, and run over and killed. A childwho escaped unharmed had crawled under the bus to place a milk carton infront of the right rear tire, in order to watch the bus crush it. Thedriver counted one child short and went to look. (Congressional RecordVol. 141, No. 62, 1995).

In all these cases, the child in peril was invisible to the driver,despite the existence of six mirrors on most school buses. State lawstypically require bus drives to be buckled, and the most dangerous areanear the right rear tire cannot be seen by the bus driver from his orher seat.

In light of these tragedies, the National Safety TransportationAssociation, National Association for Pupil Transportation recommendsthe following life saving procedures: “Before moving your bus know wherethe children are who have just disembarked. Don't move until you'recertain you know where they are. If you have lost track of a child, donot move the bus, shut off and secure the bus, take the key, get out,and check around and underneath the bus. Err on the side of caution.”

Although these recommendations make sense, and have undoubtedly savedlives on many occasions, experienced bus drivers point out that leavinga bus may not be practical in some instances: With 60 children on a bus,leaving the bus invites the possibility that one of the unruly childrenwill bully and hurt another child or even release the emergency brake.In addition, experienced bus drivers report that an outbreak of hittingand yelling in the back of the bus often requires the driver to lookback in the bus to check on the present danger that someone is beinghurt. Such a distraction often makes it difficult or impossible to keepaccurate count of the children who have left the bus. Anyone who hasridden a school bus regularly will recall such distractions. Driversreport that a group of children sometimes becomes so uncontrollable thatthe drivers' only recourse is to radio the dispatcher to send for thepolice to remove the offenders.

An additional problem comes when other drivers pass illegally on theright of the bus. Surprising as it may seem, impatient drivers who passon the right side of the bus also cause the deaths of school children.Even when children are not involved, a car pulling up on the right sideof the bus may be unnoticed if it stops in the area not visible from thedriver's seat. Seeing that the way appears clear for a right turn, thebus driver may turn into, and damage, the stopped vehicle.

In contrast to previous attempts to provide visibility of the area nearthe right rear tire, the applicant has found that a large circularforward-looking mirror mounted at the right rear of the bus allows thedriver to see the most critical areas on the right side of the bus,areas not previously visible from the driver's seat. In combination withthe standard large rear view mirror on the right side of the bus, thenew mirror makes it possible to see a child who has partially slippedunder the bus, or to see a child who is caught on the bus by his mittenstring, or to see an automobile that has moved into the blind area onthe right side of the bus. In further combination with a large stop signwith blinking stop lights on the back of the subject mirror, the driverconsidering passing on the right has additional notice that such actionis illegal when the bus is stopped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the present invention to provide improved visibilityfor the right side of a school bus.

It is a another object of the present invention to reduce fatalitiesamong school children who are bussed to school each day.

It is a further object of the present invention to make use of a newmotorized mirror at the right rear of the bus, in combination with anexisting standard forward mounted right, rear view mirror, so that busdrivers can see the area near the right side of the bus and, inparticular, to see children who might be endangered near or under thebus.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide arear-mounted mirror that extends out when the bus is stopped butretracts when the bus starts moving to avoid hitting passersby with themirror.

It is a still further object of the present invention to discourage baddrivers from passing on the right side of the bus, accomplished byproviding a large stop sign with blinking red lights on the right handside of the bus when the bus is stopped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the typical yellow school bus, with its standard complementof mirrors.

FIG. 2 shows the view in one of the right front mirrors seen by the busdriver of a typical yellow school bus.

FIG. 3 shows those areas of the right side of a typical school bus thatcannot be seen by the driver through the typical right front mirrors.

FIG. 4 shows the view seen by the bus driver in the right front mirrorwhen the forward looking mirror assembly of the present invention hasbeen mounted near the rear of the bus, with the rear facing stop signmounted to the back of the mirror (not shown) and a child in front ofthe right rear tire.

FIG. 5 shows the stop sign mounted on the rear of the forward lookingmirror of the present invention after it has been extended.

FIG. 6 depicts a deployable stop sign system.

FIG. 7 depicts stop sign system mounted toward a rear end of a passengerside of a bus, the stop sign system in a fully deployed position.

FIG. 8 depicts the stop sign system of FIG. 7 in a fully recessedposition.

FIG. 9 depicts stop sign system mounted toward a rear end of a passengerside of a bus, the stop sign system in a fully deployed position.

FIG. 10 depicts the stop sign system of FIG. 9 in a fully recessedposition.

Other aspects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionmay be further understood by reference to the following detaileddescription of illustrated embodiment(s) of the invention taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows the typical yellow school bus 1, with its standardcomplement of mirrors. Round mirrors 13 and 14 are intended to provide aview of the right front and right side of the bus, respectively. Roundmirrors 15 and 16 are intended to provide a view of the left front andleft side of the bus, respectively. Large rectangular mirrors 11 and 12function as normal outside rear view mirrors, providing views of thefollowing traffic on the right and left side of the bus, respectively,as well as additional view of the right and left side of the bus itselfDanger zone 7, as shown in FIG. 1, is not visible to the driver in anymirror.

FIG. 1 also shows the a mirror system 21 mounted on the right rear ofthe bus. Mirror system 21 includes a forward facing mirror 23, such asthe Convex Plexiglas Mirror made by C.R. Laurence Company of Los AngelesCalif. and commonly used in factories, for example, to providevisibility around blind corners. Although it is preferred that thissecond mirror 23 is relatively larger that mirror 11 so as to ensurethat the driver has a complete view of the right side of the bus, mirror23 need only be as large as is necessary to provide the driver with aview of danger zone 7.

FIG. 2 shows standard right rear view mirror 11 and its view 41 as seenfrom the perspective of the seated bus driver (not shown). The rightside rear of the bus 42 can be plainly seen, but the danger zone 7 isnot visible.

FIG. 3 again shows the standard right rear view mirror 11 and its view41 as seen from the perspective of the seated bus driver (not shown),along with those area on the right side of the bus which are not in thebus driver's view, a/k/a the danger zone 7. In particular, neither theright front wheel 55 (not shown) nor the rear wheel 51 of the bus isvisible in mirror 11. The presence of a child 53 who had crawled underthe bus in front of the rear wheel 51 cannot be seen in mirror 11 or inany other present mirror.

FIG. 4 shows the view seen in rearward facing mirror 11 when the forwardfacing mirror 23 of the present invention has been mounted and extended.Note that now mirror 23 may include a view 25 which includes a view ofthe danger zone 7, including the rear wheel 51 and child 53 who may havecrawled under the wheel.

FIG. 5 shows the preferred mirror system 21 of the present invention.Mirror system 21 may contain a rearward facing stop sign 31, whichpreferably is attached to the backside of mirror 23. Mirror assembly 21is mounted with arm 25 to motor 27 which may be operated by the driverto swing the mirror assembly 21 out at approximately right angles to thebus to provide visibility of the right side wheels of the bus, therebynotifying other people located behind the bus that the driver hasbrought the bus to a stop and that children may be exiting. Stop sign 31may also contain blinking red stop lights in the manner common to somebus stop signs which swing out to warn following and oncoming traffic tostop while children are exiting.

FIG. 6 depicts a deployable stop sign system 600. The system 600includes a housing 601 and a deployable sign 602. The sign 602 includesa stop sign 603 on one side and a mirror 702 (depicted in FIGS. 7 and 9)on the opposite side. The housing 601 includes walls 605, 607, 609, 610.Disposed within the housing are guides 604, 606 and deployment mechanism608. The sign 602 is configured to be deployable such that sign 602translates about guides 604, 606 using deployment mechanism 608. Whenthe sign 602 is in a fully deployed position, stop sign 603 and mirror702 are completely out of housing 601. When the sign 602 is in a fullyrecessed position, stop sign 603 and mirror 702 are completely withinhousing 601. In certain embodiments, deployment mechanism 608 comprisesa rack and pinion operably connected to a control system comprisingcircuitry and software. The control system can be used to controldeployment of the sign 602 using deployment mechanism 608.

As depicted in FIG. 7, The deployable stop sign system can be mountedtoward a rear end of a passenger side of a bus such that the housing isdisposed within the bus. FIG. 7 depicts sign 602 in a fully deployedposition where mirror 702 faces toward the front of the bus, and stopsign 603 faces toward the rear of the bus. In the fully deployedposition, sign 602 is substantially perpendicular to the side of the busand can provide a view of danger area 7 (for example, under the vehicleand between a rear wheel of the vehicle and a front wheel of thevehicle) on the right side of the bus to the driver via the passengerside mirror 11. In the fully recessed position depicted in FIG. 8, sign602 is disposed in the housing inside the bus. FIG. 8 depicts opening801 through which sign 602 can be deployed.

As depicted in FIG. 9, The deployable stop sign system can be mountedtoward a rear end of a passenger side of a bus such that the housing isdisposed behind the bus. FIG. 9 depicts sign 602 in a fully deployedposition where mirror 702 faces toward the front of the bus, and stopsign 603 faces toward the rear of the bus. In the fully deployedposition, sign 602 is substantially perpendicular to the side of the busand can provide a view of the danger area 7 (for example, under thevehicle and between a rear wheel of the vehicle and a front wheel of thevehicle) on the right side of the bus to the driver via the passengerside mirror 11. In the fully recessed position depicted in FIG. 10, sign602 is disposed in the housing behind the bus. FIG. 10 depicts opening1001 through which sign 602 can be deployed.

In operation, the deployable stop sign system 600 can be installedinside the right side (passenger side) of a vehicle toward the rear ofthe vehicle, including behind the vehicle. Sign 603 can be deployed froma fully recessed position (where the stop sign 603 and mirror 702 aredisposed within the housing) to a fully deployed position (where thestop sign 603 and mirror 702 are completely outside the housing) usingdeployment mechanism 608 and guides 604, 606. In the fully deployedposition, sign 602 can be substantially perpendicular to the side of thevehicle and can provide a view of the danger area 7 (for example, underthe vehicle and between a rear wheel of the vehicle and a front wheel ofthe vehicle) on the right side of the vehicle to the driver via thepassenger side mirror 11.

While several embodiments of the invention have been describedhereinabove, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthese embodiments may be modified and altered without departing from thecentral spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the preferredembodiments described hereinabove are to be considered in all respectsas illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. Therefore, it is the intention of the inventors to embraceherein all such changes, alterations and modifications which come withinthe meaning and range of equivalency of the claims.

1. A mirror system for a vehicle comprising: a first mirror viewablefrom the driver's seat; and a second mirror that is viewable through thefirst mirror, wherein the second mirror is deployable between a firstposition wherein the second mirror is disposed inside or behind thevehicle and a second position wherein the second mirror is substantiallyparallel to a side of the vehicle, and wherein when the second mirror isviewed through the first mirror from the driver's seat the second mirrorprovides a view of an area that is under the vehicle and between a rearwheel of the vehicle and a front wheel of the vehicle.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the second mirror is provided toward the rear of thevehicle.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the area under the vehicle islocated immediately forward of the rear wheel of the vehicle.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the area under the vehicle includes at leasta portion of the rear wheel of the vehicle.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the second mirror is convex.
 6. The system of claim 1, whereinthe second mirror is larger than the first mirror.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, further including a deployment mechanism configured to deploythe second mirror between the first position and the second position. 8.The system of claim 7, wherein the deployment mechanism comprises a rackand pinion operably connected to a control system, the rack and pinionconfigured to translate the second mirror about guides, therebydeploying the second mirror.
 9. The system of claim 1, further includingat least one red light fixed to the back of the second mirror andviewable from behind the vehicle.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein astop sign is mounted on the back of the second mirror.
 11. A mirror foruse on a vehicle, wherein the mirror is deployable between a firstposition wherein the mirror is disposed inside or behind the vehicle anda second position wherein the mirror is substantially parallel to a sideof the vehicle and reflects toward the front of the vehicle, and whereinthe mirror provides the driver of the vehicle a view of an area that isunder the vehicle and between a rear wheel of the vehicle and a frontwheel of the vehicle.
 12. The mirror of claim 11, wherein the mirror isprovided toward the rear of the vehicle.
 13. The mirror of claim 11,wherein the area under the vehicle is located immediately forward of therear wheel of the vehicle.
 14. The mirror of claim 11, wherein the areaunder the vehicle includes at least a portion of the rear wheel of thevehicle.
 15. The minor of claim 11, wherein a stop sign is mounted onthe back of the mirror.
 16. The mirror of claim 11, wherein the mirroris deployable between the first position and the second position using adeployment mechanism.
 17. The mirror of claim 16, wherein the deploymentmechanism comprises a rack and pinion operably connected to a controlsystem, the rack and pinion configured to translate the mirror aboutguides, thereby deploying the mirror.
 18. A method of viewing an areaunder a vehicle comprising: deploying a mirror between a first positionwherein the mirror is disposed inside or behind the vehicle and a secondposition wherein the minor is substantially parallel to a side of thevehicle such that the minor reflects toward the front of the vehicle andprovides the driver of the vehicle a view of an area that is under thevehicle and between a rear wheel of the vehicle and a front wheel of thevehicle.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the mirror is deployablebetween the first position and the second position using a deploymentmechanism.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the deployment mechanismcomprises a rack and pinion operably connected to a control system, therack and pinion configured to translate the mirror about guides, therebydeploying the mirror.